YouGov's new opinion poll for the Daily Telegraph would produce a Conservative majority larger than won by Margaret Thatcher in 1983 and almost as large as the Blair win of 1997. Do we want to win so big?
A Conservative majority of 150 and more would bury Labour for a generation and it would give David Cameron all the power he needs to take the tough decisions that will be needed. So far so good but do we wanted an elected dictatorship, even if we think it will be a benign dictatorship?
Francis Pym was frozen out by Margaret Thatcher after his famous 1983 warning against a large majority. He worried that a super majority would protect the Cabinet from having to listen to the breadth of backbench opinion and could lead to arrogance. He was right. She began to lose the plot when she ran Britain from Downing Street. Tony Blair never had to listen to backbench opinion.
David Cameron is already semi-detached from his parliamentary party. A massive majority could intensify the problem. He could ignore the Right and govern on the back of the A list intake.
On balance my preference is for a solid majority of 50 to 80. That's enough for Cameron to govern effectively but not enough for him to ignore the the opinions of John Redwood, David Davis and John Whittingdale. Or for that matter John Gummer and Ian Taylor.
